Yesterday, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) released inconsistent results for its colon cancer drug Erbitux (cetuximab) from two late-stage studies. Among the two retrospective analyses of the pivotal phase III studies, CRYSTAL and COIN, one reported positive results while the other failed to meet its primary end point. Erbitux is sold by Merck KGaA, Eli Lilly (LLY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

CRYSTAL is a multi-national study conducted by Merck KGaA. Erbitux, when added to Folfiri (a chemotherapy regimen) increased median overall survival to 19.9 months in an intent-to-treat population of first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients compared to 18.6 months in the recipients of Folfiri only.

Moreover, when studied in a subset of mCRC patients with normal or wild-type version of a gene called KRAS, the median overall survival increased to 23.5 months in patients who received Erbitux plus Folfiri as against 20 months for those who took Folfiri alone.

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Yesterday, Amgen (AMGN) presented data from a phase III trial of its Vectibix in combination with Folfiri (an irinotecan based chemotherapy) as a second-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer at the 2009 ECCO 15 - ESMO 34 European Multidisciplinary Congress in Berlin.

In the trial, Vectibix significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with tumors containing a specific gene known as KRAS. Tumor KRAS status was confirmed in 91% of the 1,186 patients enrolled in the trial, the highest number ever reported for a second-line trial.

The combination treatment of Vectibix and Folfiri achieved the co-primary endpoint by improving the median PFS by 2 months (5.9 months versus 3.9 months) compared to Folfiri alone. The combination also showed significant improvement (35% versus 10%) in tumor response rate in patients. However, even though the median overall survival was numerically better (14.5 months versus 12.5 months), it did not achieve

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Yesterday, ZymoGenetics Inc (ZGEN) announced that its rheumatoid arthritis drug Atacicept, failed to reach its goal of controlling the disease in mid-stage studies. The data did not support a direct move to late-stage trials. However, the study confirmed the biological effect of Atacicept, and did not display any unexpected side effects. Atacicept is being developed in collaboration with Merck Serono S.A. (formerly Serono S.A.), an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.  Under this agreement, ZymoGenetics will co-promote Atacicept with Merck Serono in the US, while Merck Serono will promote Atacicept ex-US. In view of the disappointing results, Merck Serono has not decided whether the late-stage trials will be conducted. Atacicept is also being developed for other indications such as lupus and multiple sclerosis. As a reminder, Recombinant human thrombin (rhThrombin, Recothrom) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 17, ...

Yesterday, patient enrollment (1200) for a phase III trial of ASA404, jointly developed by Novartis (NVS) and Antisoma for the treatment of non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was completed. Novartis is conducting the trial as the development and commercialization partner (for ASA404) of Antisoma. The trial will be conducted to test the effectiveness of the drug as a first-line treatment for squamous and non-squamous NSCLC with results due in 2010 or early 2011. The company expects to file for approval in 2011 if the trial results are positive. In addition to this, Novartis will be conducting another study of the drug in previously treated patients. Lung cancer kills 1.3 million people a year and is one of the leading causes of cancer death across the world. NSCLC accounting for about 87% of all lung cancer patients is one of the leading causes of death. Survival rates ...

Yesterday, Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) revealed that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will review its candidate for maintenance treatment of asthma in patients 12 years and above and an oral contraceptive for marketing in Europe. While the fixed-dose combination of mometasone furoate and formoterol fumarate for the maintenance treatment of asthma in patients 12 years and above is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the filing for FDA approval of the contraceptive is expected in 2010. The oral contraceptive is a combination of a natural estrogen (which is identical to the estrogen produced by a woman's body) and a selective progestin. The drug was licensed from Merck KGaA. Schering is seeking marketing approval in Europe for the combination to prevent pregnancy. The approval of the combination of mometasone furoate and formoterol fumarate would further consolidate the company’s respiratory portfolio. Asthma, ...

Rockville, Maryland- based biopharmaceutical company Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (HGSI) announced today that that it will be selling 45,000 doses of raxibacumab or ABthrax to the U.S. Government for the Strategic National Stockpile. The delivery is to be made over a 36-month period, beginning the final quarter of 2009.The company expects to receive approximately $151 million from the completion of this order.

The company had delivered 20,000 doses of the drug, for emergency use in the treatment of inhalation anthrax, to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile in the first quarter of this year and completed the delivery in the second quarter. It recognized $153.8 million in ABthrax revenue in the first quarter.

Human Genome is under contract to deliver doses of the drug to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile, which stores huge quantities of medicine and medical supplies to be used in national emergencies like a flu outbreak, terrorist attacks or

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German stock exchange is the second biggest in Europe after London in terms of traded volume or market capitalization. Many of German stocks are listed in US on NYSE or on Pink Sheet. It is a bit difficult to find financial of fundamental data for international stocks. On free webs like Finance Yahoo or Finance Google are not usually supplied or are not frequently updated.br /br /Today I would like to provide you link where you can find a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.boerse-online.de/aktien/analyser/#" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"fundamental screener for German stocks/a. It is in German language but you can always use Google Translate for the a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=amp;hl=enamp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boerse-online.de%2Faktien%2Fanalyser%2F%23amp;sl=deamp;tl=en" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"translation of the whole page/a.br /br /You can get standard fundamental indicators like P/E, P/BV, P/CF, P/S or dividend yield.br /br /I have listed below current situation for DAX components.br /br /table str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 280pt;" width="372" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"col style="width: 100pt;" ...

Oftentimes money can stand in the way of health. In light of our current economic woes, many individuals find that the rising cost of healthcare outweighs the need for insurance and proper care. The same goes for scientific and medical companies in need of funding for further research and development. To accomplish their mission, many companies form strategic partnerships to obtain cash injections.

Such an arrangement was today announced between Lpath Inc. (OTCBB: LPTN) and Merck Serono, a division of Germany-based Merck KGaA. The alliance was fueled by the fact that Merck Serono holds an annual R&D investment of around $1.5 billion. The company funnels this capital for specialist-focused therapeutic areas.

Lpath Inc. concentrates on bioactive lipid-targeted therapeutics for the treatment of human diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and more. The company’s partnership with Merck Serono will launch global research and development of Lpath’s phase 1 monoclonal antibody, ASONEP,

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ImClone Systems (IMCL) has rejected an unsolicited $60 per share bid from U.S. Erbitux marketing partner Bristol-Myers (BMY) made at the end of July and announced today that it has received an offer from an unidentified big pharma company for $70 per share in cash. ImClone has received the formal offer and will allow two weeks for the bidding company to conduct due diligence. ImClone Chairman and prominent activist investor Carl Icahn has been in talks with the CEO of the pharmaceutical company which made the new offer, representing a premium of over 10% from the closing price on Tuesday of $63.65 per share. While numerous big pharma companies could be potential bidders for ImClone, Pfizer (PFE) would be my best guess as the mystery buyer as ...